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How to Resolve a Problem with Your Insurance Company
In addition to the information in Section 2, here are a few more helpful
hints.
When trying to resolve a claims related problem with the insurance company,
you
should go directly to a claims supervisor if your agent or claims adjuster
was unable
to resolve the problem. You are entitled to an accounting of what was
offered to you
versus the actual damage incurred. Documentation is key for your case.
Many
times your efforts will pay off if you are willing to take the time to
do a little leg work.
Unfortunately, your agent doesn't have the time or authority needed to
do the additional
work required to resolve a disputed claim. We will go into more detail
on the claims
issue in Section 4.
To resolve a dispute with the insurance company in a non-claim related
matter,
you must first plead your case with your agent or company representative.
Your
agent or representative is, by no means, the final authority! If you don't
think
you are getting the results you desire, ask to speak to a district manager
or supervisor.
You have to understand the layers of management above an agent or representative.
For the most part, management is not skilled in dealing with the public
and unable to
stand up to the public. It's easy for this level of management to tell
an agent or
representative "no," but to tell an unhappy customer "no"
is quite a different story!
Many times I've gone to bat for a customer, only to be told by my superior
"no!"
Then the customer, unhappy with my results, calls and talks to the same
person that
turned me down, and gets what they want! As I mentioned before, a customer
can
get more done than an agent can, so why pay an agent to do something you
can do better! The truth is the district and regional managers don't have
the skills to
handle a confrontation by an unhappy customer, and in many cases, they
will back
down. This is especially true with underwriters who make decisions with
no regard
as to how it will affect you personally Their only concern is the bottom
line, knowing
the agent is the one who has to deal with the customer. So my advice is
that you go
beyond your agent, try to speak to an underwriter directly and plead your
case,
providing it's an underwriting problem. Chances are you will win all or
part of what
you want.
The least effective thing you can say is "I'll sue," this is
heard all the time.
The most effective thing you can say is, "I'll file a complaint with
the state
department of insurance." They prefer you didn't for two reasons.
First, your
complaint, valid or not, will increase their complaint ratio; secondly,
they don't want
the scrutiny of the state department of insurance and therefore, are more
willing to
give you what you want and avoid the results of a complaint.
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